Somersworth tax cap proponent was sure measure would pass

SOMERSWORTH — “I was confident this was going to pass,” Real Roseberry said Wednesday in reference to his tax cap petition. “And it did by a lot. Taxes here are going up, not down.”

On Tuesday, Somersworth residents overwhelmingly voted in favor of instituting a tax cap by a vote of 3,080-2,087.

This amendment will limit the increase in the city's property tax rate during a fiscal year to an amount not to exceed the property tax rate established during the prior fiscal year increased by a factor equal to the change in the National Consumer Price Index-Urban, as published by the United States Department of Labor, for the calendar year immediately preceding the year of the budget adoption. And although many have spoken out against such a cap citing considerable consequences on schools and other city agencies, Roseberry said he's simply looking for accountability.

“I'm not here to hurt anyone, I just want accountability,” Roseberry told Foster's last week. “I'm fighting for the taxpayers — we need this.”

Roseberry collected more than 800 signatures in favor of his tax cap petition back in 2008. Ultimately, the tax cap was voted down that same year with 58 percent in opposition and 42 percent in support. But since 2008, Roseberry picked up an additional 250 signatures — something he believed could ultimately translate into roughly 1,200 votes come Tuesday. And even though he got much more than the 1,200 he expected, he still wasn't shocked by the result.

“This isn't surprising at all,” he said Wednesday. “Taxes here are too high and people now understand that.”

Dover, Rochester, and Manchester are other cities in New Hampshire with tax caps already in place. The amendment passed Tuesday would provide that capital expenditures and the total, or any part, of the principal and interest payments of any municipal bond could be excluded from the tax cap limitation upon a two-thirds vote of members of the City Council.

The amendment would also provide that the tax cap limitation could be overridden by a two-thirds vote of all members of the City Council.